Tag: postaday

Weekly Photo Challenge: Change of Seasons

Friday night in Laura and James’ living room, I was telling them what the weekly photo challenge was.

Laura said, “I have pumpkins on the front porch and Christmas decorations in a box.” So I went out onto the front porch but when I saw the neighbor’s Christmas lights and a mini-bus drove by, I knew I had the shot for the Change of Seasons challenge.

Change of Seasons. And the temperature is 50 degrees making it feel like a Spring evening.

Change of seasons

South Side Window Scene

I took this on the way to my car after a football game this fall.

It reminded me of taking city  walks in Philadelphia where my parents lived.

When we headed south on Ninth Street, we’d see ceramic window decorations and many were religious.

It was as if the residents dressed their windows for others to see and enjoy.

Blessings for passersby.  Theadora of  People places and bling blog  from Paris wrote and identified the holy statue as the Infant Jesus of Prague

Maybe I’ll return and see what’s in this window for Christmas time.

Night Game Christmas Tree at Heinz Field

On the way back home, after a weekend with the family, I drove by the night game.

We’re not talking about who won.  It’s been a rough season.  Not looking so good.

I didn’t post it on the Monday after due to the  disappointing outcome for the Steelers.  But I like the scene. And it was exciting to hear the roar of the crowd.

Shot with a 50mm lens, ISO 200, f/1.8 and a slow shutter 40- propped on the  rolled down driver’s window- without a remote cable release but managed without  camera shake. Canon 5D Mark ll

Cheesecake Pie Made with Coconut Palm Sugar

Some of the family is eating gluten-free.  You might have seen the crumbled cake top from the other day (which was delicious)

And the family is trying to reduce intake of  refined sugar.  I wanted to bake something they could eat if they wanted to do so.

My mother used to make this with regular sugar when I was growing up. I just switched to the coconut palm for the body of the cheesecake pie and used a bit of maple syrup for the sour cream topping. I used FULL FAT cream cheese and sour cream. Some free-range organic eggs

I made this for Saturday night after Thanksgiving

This is a crustless pie.  Not too sweet.  It looks like it has a brown crust but it is just the butter browning the edge and the color of the coconut palm sugar.  It’s an iPhone photo today.

Here is the recipe.

Butter a glass pie plate.  Heat the oven to 325 degrees.  I baked this one at 350 and the electric oven  where I was staying is hotter and faster than mine at him and I think it was too hot for it. I think that is why it had more cracks than usual.

Mix well  2 -8 oz. packages of cream cheese (room temp)  with 3/4 c coconut palm sugar

Add 3 eggs. Beat well.  Add 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract. Mix.

Pour into the buttered pie plate.  Bake for 45 minutes.

Take out of oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes, it will deflate and a crater will form for the topping, forming a “crust” without crumbs.

Spread on a topping mixture of  1 c sour cream, 3/4 teaspoon vanilla and 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

Bake for 5 more minutes.

Cool. Serve with sour cherries or fresh blueberries or strawberries or eat plain. Put it in the fridge when cool.

Bake until knife comes out clean in center